Drawing the Sydney Opera House
Two Plein Airs Going To A New Home Today
Idyllwild Backyard by Michael Newberry
A Little Greek Pastel Painting Trip by Michael Newberry
Years ago I took a pastel painting trip of a lifetime, for three months I traveled from Athens, Greece to many islands, eventually to Istanbul, and slowly back again to Athens. My first island was Tinos, from the harbor I rented a scooter, booked a tiny house outside of town for 15 dollars a night. The porch had a sloping view over gray-green olive groves down to the dark and brilliant ultramarine blue Mediterranean, about 300 ft to the left was a small, room-sized luminous white-plastered Byzantine church.
Embargo Series by Michael Newberry
The Animal Lifted Embargo Series has significantly changed my opinion about including animals in my paintings. They really help set off the scale and atmosphere of the landscapes. I am surprised that just two tiny marks, in the case of the sandpipers, can reset the landscapes dramatically.
3rd and 4th in the Animal Lifted Embargo Series by Michael Newberry
With this Animal Lifted Embargo Series I am refining my hierarchy of subject values. Humanity is at the top, consequently I paint/draw individuals filling the universe of the canvas or paper space. Animals are a far distant second place, recently insignificant, but I am now enjoying placing them in landscapes as minor players. It makes be feel peaceful and the experience of painting them in feels a bit magical. If I made them the same size as humans (allowing perspective truth etc) I would be extremely uncomfortable with that.
Newberry, Seagull at Picnic Island, 2020, oil on panel, 12×16″
There is an exciting tension in placing an animal just right, it seems to set off the landscape and definitely twerks the composition, like a zigzag incorporating the direction of the light, the bird's flight path, the feeling of "lift," setting off the formal composition of the water and land masses. Delightfully fun.
Doggie at the Beach and an Aesthetic Musing
In the past I have rejected doing animals because humanity is at the forefront of my mind. I love my dog, Frida, and she loves me, but she doesn't even glance at my art. :(
The Surface Vs. 3D Paradox Solved
There was a crazy split in art history between the modernist perspective of being true to the surface of the canvas vs. the classical window looking at out the world. Paradoxically, both are true but they missed what connects them: light and color vibrations dance on our cornea's surface.
Workshop Series: Pastel, Let the Color of the Paper Work for You
Newberry Art Tutorials Colored and dark papers can save you precious time and give you amazing effects. When I paint/draw/teach plein air I try to nail the impression in under an hour, it is a race against the planet moving. As the sun slowly moves across the landscape you will see new cast shadows, new …
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Workshop Series: Find the Shadows First
Newberry Art Tutorials Then Add Light! One of the most important lessons I teach in my workshops is to find the shadows first. It is almost a guarantee that if you find interesting shadows then the rest of your drawing or painting will work! The hard part is that looking for shadows (cast, core shadows …
Today Blasted Through Finishing Touches on These Pastel Landscapes
Michael Newberry recent pastel landscapes.
Driven to paint Plein Air
High noon and not a shadow to be had. My students will tell you I veto painting things with no shadows, broke my rules, and decided to paint with the focus on the soft dusty arid colors.